The 1st day of the experiment
It was a large room. I didn't know what to do. All I knew was that I was here to learn and survive. The government had made this school for us kids to graduate from. There were about 10,000 kids, around my age, most of whom I didn't know. If I knew them, they certainly didn't know me. Since this was entirely new, the facility, which was the name of the school, the first class for this school was my class.
My name is Regan, and I just started high school this year. I wasn't strong, but I was smart. In middle school, I was the smartest kid in the school district. I was technically the age of a middle schooler, but I went to college courses to learn. Either way, I was too smart to be in school. I wanted to stay in high school so I could make friends, which ended horribly. Now, it was time for me to begin my high school experience, and I was eager to make the most of it.
The usual stereotype is that blonde girls are dumb. I'm one of the three listed. People think I'm a girl. I'm not. My nickname is Reg, but most call me Regan. As you can tell by my name, my parents wanted a girl. Since I was born a boy, they were a little bit harder on me. They made me work harder, study harder, and exercise harder. The first five years of my life were like this. Then came my sister. She made them happier than I could, but they still didn't neglect me. She had to endure what I had to, but I still helped her out where I could. My parents just wanted the best for us, and I'm happy about that.
Either way, 10,000 of us were here, ready and waiting for whatever they were about to tell us. I decided to go and find someone I knew, but I couldn't even get past the crowd of people. That's when we heard the door open. A tall, tired man walked out. His hair was all long and messed up. His clothes were extremely baggy. I don't know if he was supposed to be a leader in all this or some random hobo that snuck in here.
"Greetings, kids." The man spoke. It was more of a gloomy voice, but still, he spoke. "My name is Issac Danvers, but please, call me Mr. Danvers. This program here is designed to see who will graduate with the top scores in your grade." That was already too easy. I could beat everyone in this room with just my brain alone. "I can not say what the tests are going to be like or how they will work, but you will need to stay focused every second of every day. One false move, and you're out."
"Why so many people?" It was someone from the crowd. I didn't know who it was, obviously, but they sounded confused. I can't blame them. I was, too.
"The 2,000 kids gathered here today have been selected to participate in this program." Now, I'm confused. How in the world were there 2,000 of us when there was a huge screen telling us 10,000 above?
"Excuse me, Mr. Danvers, it says 10,000 on the screen above. Is it supposed to say that, or is it broken?" said a kid behind me. Mr. Danvers was silent for a couple of seconds. Not that awkward silence where everyone is slightly uncomfortable. More on the mysterious side of silence. "Oh," is what he said next. None of us knew how it worked psychologically or what it did, so we didn't know if it worked on us. "Looks like I did a small miscalculation. I forgot to tell you all that you need to prove yourself to be in here." And it became harder to get into the facility. There was now a 20% chance that we could at least make it into the facility.
"Everyone in this room will now play a simple game of Blackjack. Get in groups of any number. The first person to get exactly 21 wins. Have fun." That was the first test. A game of skill and luck. We didn't have a dealer, so it was confusing. People who didn't know how to play tried asking others, but they were unsuccessful. Most of the people who didn't know how to play just left the facility. I just grabbed a deck of cards from the front and sat down.
"Hey, kid, you gonna play?" It was some kid I didn't know. Like everyone in these rooms. "I don't want to play. It would risk me getting kicked out." He just started smiling. He looked athletic, but he might also be pretty smart. "If you aren't going to play, then you should put the cards away. It makes you look like you're gonna beat everyone." My goal was to steer clear of the competition. I didn't want to leave so soon.
"Looks like 1,000 more kids need to leave in order for everyone else to move on." I looked up and realized how many people had left already. They wanted to live normal lives, not a life where their fate is decided by games. Our chances were becoming better. ⅔ of us will make it through. I'm skeptical about this whole facility thing. Either I was going to get through this or leave for good. I wasn't leaving anytime soon. "Name's Christopher. Christopher Whitlock."